‘Magnum P.I.’ rises again on CBS, with a diverse cast

Magnum P.I. is heading back to the Hawaiian private-eye beat, with CBS adding a comma-less remake of the 1980s Tom Selleck hit to its 2018-19 lineup.

Magnum was one of five pilots picked up to series Friday by CBS, including a drama that stars Noah Wyle (ER, Falling Skies) and will be produced by mega-producer Greg Berlanti and film director Ava DuVernay.

Jay Hernandez (Bad Moms, Suicide Squad) will take on Selleck’s iconic character, Thomas Magnum, “a decorated ex-Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator.” Selleck, who now stars in long-running CBS drama Blue Bloods, played a Vietnam War veteran in his Magnum, which aired on CBS from 1980-88.

CBS also is reaching back to its past with an original-cast revival of Murphy Brown, announced in January.

The network is responding to criticism of a lack of diversity in its programming, as the shows selected for the 2018-19 schedule reflect a broader reach in both series concept and casting. Earlier this week, CBS picked up comedies Welcome to the Neighborhood, starring Cedric the Entertainer, and an untitled Damon Wayans Jr. project.

Other new series:

Wyle will star in the The Red Line, which focuses on how the mistaken shooting of a black doctor by a white Chicago police officer affects three very different families.

God Friended Me follows an atheist friended by God on social media and stars Micheal Brandon Hall (The Mayor) and Joe Morton (Scandal).

The network will rely on one of its thematic strengths with The Code, a drama that focuses on military lawyers. Mira Sorvino and Dave Annable appeared in the pilot, but those roles are being recast.

And CBS has already committed to FBI, a new series from Law & Order producer Dick Wolf.

On the comedy side, Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries) and Tone Bell (Disjointed) will star in Fam, which sees “a woman’s dreams of an upstanding life with her new fiance and his upstanding family … dashed” by the behavior of her younger “train-wreck” half sister and her father. Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sheryl Lee Ralph will also star.